Try several leaves, chopped, to make tea in the usual manner. Pour a cup of boiling water over, and let stand for 5 minutes, or simmer the leaves in water for 3 or 4 minutes (do not boil), strain, and drink steaming hot with a few drops of lemon juice added. The herb has a great deal of saline mucilage, and its salty taste can be a valuable additive to mineral-salt-free diets. Indeed, it is one of the main ingredients, with kelp, in many vegetable salts. The same natural saline content helps reduce temperatures and fevers when the drink is taken hot, and promotes kidney health and activity when used fresh in salads. Chop the cucumber-flavoured leaves finely after washing well: your family or guests may not enjoy a large lump of hairy borage as much as tiny, more palatable pieces. It is very rich in potassium, needed for healthy tissues, bowels, kidneys and liver, and has large quantities of easily assimilable calcium as well. No wonder it kept those ancient warriors on their toes.
Borage was always classed as a herb of jolly Jupiter, a general blood and body strengthener. Its leaves, placed in a bowl of fruit punch, or liquid of any kind, will not only give that cool cucumber flavour, but will actually reduce its temperature.
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